While At Masbolle
by PurpleMyste
Summary: An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight.
1. The Sister

**While At Masbolle - Chapter1**

**The Sister  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Not in the ownership of me whatsoever._

_May reword this later, as I'm not quite happy with it yet. _

"Your rooms, Lady Keladry," the pretty girl said shyly, curtsying as she did so. Around the age of 16, with long curly blonde hair and baby blue eyes, she was the image of a fresh from the convent lady, clad in a simple blue long sleeved cotton dress that hugged her slender curves and sported a modestly low neckline.

"Kel," the travel worn Lady Knight corrected.

She looked into the room as the younger girl explained slightly anxiously, "It's only a small suite of rooms, but we were informed that you should like them. If you need anything at all during your stay don't hesitate to ask one of the maids for assistance or most likely you can find me in my rooms down the hall," she indicated a door near the end of the hallway, "or in the small garden near the kitchens out the front."

She blushed lightly at Kel's semi-questioning look, mumbling something about not caring if gardening was a servants work, and not suited to a lady, because it suited her just fine, before the girl remembered her current task.

"Anyway, I've had a warm bath drawn for you, since you and your companions no doubt worn out, mother sees it fit to postpone dinner by an hour to give you and the rest of the commanders more time to sleep."

She smiled as Kel's eyes widened as she walked into the newly opened room. It was reasonably big, painted a light forest green and sported dark green drapes to frame the large window that lay on the opposite wall to the grand double bed.A deeply engraved wooden bow lay at the bottom of the bed, obviously meant for personal belongings, was patterned with swirls and tasteful Yamani designs, identical to those on the beds dark headboard.

Apart from the weapons rack that lay against one wall (which, she did not fail to notice, held a place for a Yamani glaive), the large fireplace was the only other thing in the room, if you did not count the two doors. One, she discovered, led to a privy, dressing room and large walk-in closet, while the other led to a small sitting room.

It contained a comfortable looking elegant (which usually did not go together) couch, bookcase, (filled with interesting tomes from the Masbolle library) a small table and a selection of cushy chairs that surrounded a large stone fireplace and the table. There was also a desk in the corner, on its top a few candles in holders.

Walking back into the main room, Kel found that the girl, who had been previously introduced as Dom's younger sister, was now perched on the side of the bed.

What had puzzled Kel most about the rooms, apart from the grandeur of them, and the fact that they had been given to her to use, was the fact that most of the decorations were distinctly Yamani, and not Tortallan, as she would have expected.

When she absently let her thoughts wander (she would later blame her tired condition), she accidentally let the question slip out. The girl laughed.

"Oh, I was wondering if you would think it odd," the blonde commented, somehow managing to laugh and snicker at the same time - a feat that Kel would have thought impossible if she did exactly the same thing whenever someone recalled one of Neal's many antics (most of the time Dom, who she had recently discovered, had many interesting tales of Neal's childhood.)

"Brother insisted on having them made when we built this wing a few years back, I suspect on the off chance you may someday visit us, as the only other Yamani that he knows apart from cousin Yuki is you, and Yuki and Neal have their own rooms in the castle." She observed Kel's face carefully, a slight smile playing across her face when Kel didn't bother to try and hide her astonishment.

She handed Kel the small keys to the room on her way out the door.

"He wouldn't like that I'd let slip about this particular bit of information, but I did still have to get back on him for his last prank - managed to drive away half the suitors I'd gotten in that one night he did. Although, now I think about it, that may have been his aim." She thoughtfully rubbed her chin, preparing to go out the door.

"Why were you building a new wing last year? The Masbolle castle is massive without it, so why did you want the extra space?" Kel asked curiously.

The girl turned back to Kel, rolling her eyes slightly. "Mother wanted to build rooms for Dom and his lady afresh instead of remaking one of the other sets of rooms, seeing as Dom didn't want to take over Mother and Father's rooms."

Seeing Kel's still confused gaze, she continued. "Our older brother's died, so Clarice was left as next in line, although, girls can't inherit Masbolle, and at this point it seems unlikely that Clarice will be able to have children. So even though he's the youngest son, Dom will inherit after Father dies, and become Lord of Masbolle, and in Mother's point of view, need bigger rooms as befitting a Lord. Dom's not betrothed to anyone, but Mother hopes that building the rooms for him with room for a wife, and her belongings also, he will take the hint and get married sometime soon. Mothers not getting any younger and secretly before she dies, i know she hopes to see her only son set up with a good life and family, as she knows a family is impossible for her eldest, and i don't think that she wants to let me go yet. With finding out that Father is terminally ill she has been getting more desperate, knowing that her time may come soon," she confided in Kel.

"I'm sorry, i didn't mean to burden you with my troubles," she said hastily, shutting the door behind her with a click, and leaving Kel feeling overwhelmed by the information she had just received.

She walked over to the promised bath, submerging herself in its waters, drowning herself in her thoughts.

Today had been informative, and strange, to say the least.

It had all started with a bang...


	2. The Morning

** While At Masbolle - Chapter 2  
**

**The Morning**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Not in the ownership of me whatsoever._

_Not very good I'm afraid, but let me know what you think - was it horrendous or merely bad? _

A large horn call sounded from outside. Scrambling to her feet, Kel ought her way out of her tight bedroll and grabbed her sword, lunging out of the flap of her tent in only her bed clothes.

Around her she saw the men of Third Company standing outside their own tents, swords at the ready, looking for where the sound had come from. Embarrassingly, she found that most were clad in only loincloths.

The culprit, they found, was the manically grinning Raoul, who stood in the centre of the large clearing that they had set their tents up in. A chorus of growls sounded, Kel's being the loudest, although not by far - she had been having nice dreams of one of the blue eyed residents, and though that she had the right to continue to do so.

"Raoul!" She hollered, her eyes glinting viciously at her ex- knight master, narrowing more by the second. Raoul's only response was to continue grinning annoyingly.

A series of wolf whistles sounded, echoing around the clearing, as her loud out burst brought the men's attention to her. Kel's eyes widened, a hot blush spreading across her cheeks like wildfire, and for their sakes, it was lucky that Yuki and Lalasa weren't there, as she belatedly remembered her situation.

Before she had left Corus with the Third Company of the King's Own a few days ago, Yuki and Lalasa had seen it fitting to play a little prank on their friend.

Helping her with her packing, (Although, in hindsight Kel knew she should have smelt a rat when Yuki volunteered to help her - Yuki detested packing, taking it so far as that when it was necessary for her to pack, she now let Neal do hers for her.) they had somehow managed to change all of her nightshirts to ... well, ladies bedclothes. Meaning - Embarrassingly form fitting, low cut, pretty monstrosities. (Although, Kel couldn't help but admit that they were awfully comfortable - a fact that she would not have guessed - and pretty, even if she was outraged with what they had done.)

The one that she was currently wearing was a deep red and sleeveless and much to her discomfort, it also seemed to be the lowest cut of all the ones that her 'friends' had packed for her.

Just her luck.

One of the men a few tents away snorted, muttering loudly to himself. "Huh, probably got mi lord to wake us up especially."

Kel's cheeks flamed a brighter red, which she had though unlikely to happen, but this time due to fury.

She narrowed her eyes at him and walked forward until she was only a step away from him, recognizing him almost immediately as one of the Third Company's newest recruits. Kejun? Possibly.

"Was that an insult to my honour, recruit? Because if it was, I may have to take the matter up on the practice courts," Kel said thoughtfully, almost as if to herself, crossing her arms, trying to contain her rage and not smack him across the face as he ogled her chest.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer out of him, and not wanting to make a big deal out of his rude comment, she turned on her heel and started to walk back to her tent.

"You know, I'm terribly surprised she didn't ask me to take the matter up in bed, since that is obviously how she wins her battles," Kejun casually commented to the man in the next tent over, obviously not caring if she heard what he thought.

His remark didn't surprise her in the slightest, and although still mad at the idiot, her face returned to it's usual pallor, and she whirled around calmly on her bare feet to face him once again, surveying him from head to toe slowly.

The man had the gall to smirk. He thought he had won. Well, she'd see about that.

"Are you sure it was me? That's a pretty scanty loincloth - are you sure it wasn't you that was the one wanting to impress?" She asked smoothly.

He raised his eyebrows. _Smarmy prat._ "Show off for you? A woman like you is hardly worth _my_ effort."

"Oh no sir, I see you were mistaken - I never meant you were trying to show off for_ me_ - although," she commented, surveying him closely, in a way that made even him go red. "I don't see much to show off at all really."

Raucous laughter sounded from the Own's men, who had previously been glaring at Kejun, although he hardly noticed.

Kejun spluttered.

"You see. I could take up your rudeness on the practice courts - and I assure you, I would win - or I could just embarrass you this way. But your worth neither the time or the effort. So I'll just settle for this."

And with nothing further, she slapped his cheek with such force that it sent him reeling backwards, sending him flying into his tent, which promptly collapsed, tumbling to the ground, where he lay sprawled in the dirt at her feet. Later, she was sure, he would have a colorful bruise across that cheek - a bruise that she was sure, he would not tell his friends how it had truly gotten there.

The man that Kejun had previously commented to walked over from his tent to help Kejun up, holding out his hand to the injured man. Kel looked on in confusion._ Kejun had insulted her, loudly, in front of the Third, and there was Dom holding out his hand for him? _Kel thought anguished.

Taking Dom's offered hand gratefully, Kejun pulled himself up, scowling the whole time.

As soon as he gained his feet however, Dom pulled back his other fist and punched him in the nose, sending him sprawling at her feet. Again. This time he landed on his crumpled tent, where tent poles must have been sticking into him at all angles.

Not that she cared.

Quite the opposite really.


	3. The Mother

** While At Masbolle - Chapter 3**

**The Mother  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Most probably none of this are my ideas at all, and I most definately do not own these characters (excepting other members of the Masbolles, apart from of course, Dom)_

_Eep! I hadn't noticed how awful the spacing was! Anyway, it's fixed now (took half an hour too). _

Kel wrapped her arms tightly around her drawn up knees that were tucked neatly underneath her chin, looking morosely out across the running water of the small stream. The large stone that she was sitting on was hard beneath her, although as the wind teased itself through the strands of her (by now quite long) hair, she didn't move or wriggle to try and move into a more comfortable position.Captivated by the shimmers that danced across the water as the newly rising sun hit it through the small gaps in the tree cover, Kel didn't notice when one of her fellows stepped up behind her, and it wasn't until he was within arm's reach of her that Kel noticed the new presence by the stream.

"Forget about this morning Kel," he said softly from behind her. "He speaks for no one else in this company. We can obviously not say the same about our ten new recruits, but if that's the view they decide to take, then they won't last long here."

Kel's mind was drawn back to the morning's events with these words. She remembered that the hours after the incident (as she now thought of it) had past in a blur, of Raoul being furiously angry, roaring at the recruit, (who she later found was called Keijun - she had been close) and then his other men, about how he would not tolerate such crass behaviour in his company, nor disrespect to one of the commanding officers. Raoul didn't bother to get one of the Own's healers to attend to his severely bruised cheekbone, nor heal his broken nose. When Keijun tried to ask one of them to heal it for him anyway, all he got was a glare and insult in answer. He took this as a no.

Raoul decided that his blatant and repetitive disrespect could not be overlooked anymore, and he would only keep Keijun until they reached the nearest town. Raoul promised the young man that no references would be left there either - in fact, he assured the now cowering young man, that he would make it so that the ex-recruit would have to walk for towns to be able to find a job.

It was now a few hours until midday, and the mornings ride with the Own's men had been unbearable, with their ever-watching eyes. Oh sure, Keijun had gotten the worst of it, with being stuck with the Own's supplies at the back of the train, with men playing nasty tricks on him, and insulting him all the way until they had reached the nearest town - where he had been dumped with his meagre possessions (the items that had been issued to him when had been enlisted to the Own he was not allowed to keep) in the small town of Porsut which they had passed an hour before. (Although Kel, being at the front with Raoul, had noticed the Third giving Keijun a hard time after insulting 'Their Lady Kel'- the Own's Squire. It turns out after years in their presence the men were very protective of their lady.)

Kel turned around, smiling and gesturing for the man to sit beside her on the rock as she scooted over slightly.

"Thanks Wolset," she replied with a small sigh. "I wouldn't be here today if I couldn't handle those sorts of people.""That you wouldn't my lady, and we are all glad you can handle them, and that you are here," he replied, giving her hand a slight squeeze, and joined her in her contemplation of the stream.

-------

Dom was surprised twenty minutes later when they had finished their lunch and were ready to go on their way again, when he found Kel beside the stream with her head rested lightly on Wolset's shoulder, fast asleep. Dom could not help but feel slightly jealous of the soldier who now turned to grin at him.

-------

Kel sighed and taking a breath put her head under the water scrubbing at her face. Well, it wasn't the most normal of mornings, although she guessed that it was all a matter of perspective. One person's normal is another person's hectic day. From her perspective, this day was certainly qualifying as odd.She finished up with her bath, not leaving its waters until you could in no way say that it was lukewarm, and approaching bone cold. She dried herself with the massive white towel that she had noticed hanging on a rack across from the bath. When she was absolutely dry she went to the closet, which she had noticed earlier, astoundingly, was full of dresses, shirts and breeches,all in what looked to be her size (a fact that from her perspective also qualified as odd).

Surveying her choices for a while she eventually decided to wear one of the dresses - after all, she was to meet the Lady of Masbolle, and Dom's mother.

It couldn't hurt, she reasoned, to make a good impression - and if, at the same time, it showed her appreciation of all the hospitality she had been shown thus far, then that was better.

Pulling on her own red breastband and loincloth, Kel unhooked a simple russet red dress, with long sleeves (the evening was slightly cool, and she wanted nothing to remind the men of her unfortunate bout of forgetfulness this morning) a square neck and long unadorned cotton skirts.

She pulled out her brush and pulled it through her long brown hair, teasing out the tangles, and parting it down the middle, using the mirror in the bedroom that she had earlier neglected to notice for guidance. She surveyed herself for a while in the mirror, looking at her plain face critically. It would have to do. There was nothing she could do to help it, and it was only dinner, right?

She gently kneeled on the floor, and carefully folded her clothes and placed them in the bottom of a trunk at the bottom of the bed that seemed to be hers for the time being. She couldn't bear to put her rough materialed clothes (although of the finest sewing) in with the others that hung in the closet.

She hadn't many of her possessions with her however, so this didn't take long, and somehow the bath that she had entered tired and travel worn, she had left energised, and she had no intention to sleep now, and doubted she even could.So, instead she wandered through her rooms, running her hands over engravings and decorations, admiring paintings and ornaments, and staring out across the view of Masbolle that she could see from her window. Finally, she decided to work her hair into two plaits, and tie them with small leather thongs. It took a while (she was not accustomed to it - the very few balls she had been to, she had worn her hair down, or Lalasa had arranged her hair for her) but she managed it in the end, the result not looking lopsided at all.

She sat down on her couch (It was hers. Currently, anyway) and tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch. She couldn't do weapons practice in this gown she supposed - it would be highly insulting for her to wreck to dress that had been given to her. It was then that she remembered that she had those little diamond earbobs that Shinko had given her for her birthday last year with her. Maybe they would help the Lady of Masbolle to think of her as a presentable lady, and not just another man because of her profession. Kel wasn't quite sure why the thought of this bothered her so much, when someone's opinion of her likeness to either a male or female had not bothered her too much before,but she found that it did bother her - a lot.

Without trying to contemplate this idea further, she went to find her earbobs that she had just put away.Kel had just finished putting them into her ears when she heard a knock at the door. Upon opening it, she found a short little man with a blank expression clad in Masbolle colours standing there."My Lady has requested your presence for dinner, Lady Keladry," he said smoothly. For this man, she thought, slightly amused, it would take rather a lot to make him startle. She wondered if he had been working here when two young cousins had been there, and if so, whether they had ever tried to shock the now old man.

"Thank you, sir. And where would I find the Lady Masbolle?" She replied politely.

"Follow me madam," he said, and turned around stiffly, and started walking down the hall. Kel followed.

-------

She finally entered a small room (this was only comparative to the sizes of the other rooms in the Masbolle residence) that opened up into a garden. Flowers bloomed beautifully everywhere, and in the centre of the room was a large round table set with silverware. Already seated at this table, was Raoul, a few of the Sergeants, Dom's sister that she had met earlier, a middle aged woman, which she guessed to be Dom's other sister, Clarice, and an old woman who she presumed must be Dom's mother. Dom himself however was not there.

She observed his mother from her place at the door. She had aged well, with only a few lines to mark the travels of her years, and her eyes were a light amber colour. While her hair was mostly grey now, it looked as though it had once been a raven black. She held her head tall, and her back straight, poised for whatever the world had in store. Obviously she was the woman of power in the room, no matter how well both her daughters also held themselves. She was wearing a long sweeping blue dress, with long sleeves and a high neckline that was closed with what looked to be a real pearl. Her hair tightly bound, she noticed Kel's presence with a smile.

Kel found that she liked the kindness in her smile, and knew that she had made the right decision to wear a dress when she saw Clarice's look.

"Welcome to Masbolle young Keladry," Dom's mother proclaimed, gesturing for Kel to take the seat opposite hers. Kel felt slightly better that she had Raoul and his sergeants of the Third by her sides, or else Kel would have been more intimidated by her view of the Lady Masbolle with her daughters beside her. Not that the Lady tried to be imposing, or anything but welcoming. Clarice was the only one with a sour expression, and Kel could tell, with a twinge of pity, that she was not a woman pleased with her life.

Ignoring the stares from her comrades (She guessed it was the dress.)"I thank you for your generosity Lady," Kel replied, not adding well wishes to the health of her and hers, as she usually would have, with knowing the state of her husband's health.

"I'm afraid that Domitan won't be joining us today, he is sharing his dinner with his father tonight," the Lady said.

-------

Dinner Kel was sure, could have gone worse. She, and it seemed, everyone else, didn't take notice of Clarice's sceptical muttered comments, most of them aimed spitefully at their visitors. Dom's mother seemed nice, and despite all the blunders and times Kel made a fool of herself, she seemed to like Kel well enough, to her immense relief.

Dom's younger sister seemed delighted to have another lady in the house, one that wasn't related to her. She had been chatty, although whenever her mother's gaze fell onto her, she was quick to fall silent.

Kel sighed, falling into the huge bed heavily, clad in a purple long sleeved, high necked but short skirted nightgown. She had embarrassed herself far too many times for her liking. She also couldn't help but be disappointed that Dom hadn't been there, although she knew this was a silly feeling, as she would get to see him plenty in the next few weeks at least, as the Third Company was going to stay to help with Masbolle's repair work for a few weeks, perhaps a month or so, before moving on to help with another fiefs problems - Masbolle was first on the list, as the fief hadn't had assistance from the King (which they were entitled to every few years - sometimes every ten) for over ten years now, as it seemed to be doing well enough when other fiefs needed the help more. But recently, there had been a few forest fires in the fief that had damaged a lot of crops and property.

So, that is how the Third came to be at Masbolle, as they were the company chosen to help the fiefs repair damage this year. Kel was just along with them for a while. She would probably decide to go back to New Hope and Tobe soon,but at the moment she was contented to see more of Dom's lands - more Dom's lands than she had previously thought. Neal and Yuki were still in the capital, and they had promised to drop by and see her if she was still there when they set off back north - they also planned to go back to New Hope for a while.

The end of the war, the start of peace. Times had changed. The King wouldn't have duties for her all the time now. With her life no longer just revolving around orders to fight ...

What would she choose to do?

With that thought loosely stuck in her mind she sunk into a deep sleep, dreaming of the sergeant that had been missing at dinner.


	4. The Confusion

** While At Masbolle - Chapter 4**

**The Confusion  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Only the Masbolles are mine . _

The morning came all too fast, although this Kel supposed was also a matter of perspective, but that was hers.

Letting out a large yawn, she snuggled into the gorgeously soft duvet and bed pillows. Peeking through one eye she saw that it was dawn. Oh well, just a few more minutes...

She let her mind drift off into the dangerous territory of the future Lord. She could hardly believe that he'd never told her. He must have known for a while.

It was funny though, she would have thought that Neal would have told her at least, surely he must know, or have figured out that Dom would have to become Lord, as he was Dom's cousin. She sighed softly into the sheets. Thinking of why they hadn't mentioned it was far too confusing for her to contemplate at the moment, so she wouldn't.

Then there was also the matter of the Yamani decorated suite of rooms. Of course Dom knew that she liked Yaman design, she hadn't hidden the fact, and her knowledge of the Yamani was one of the reasons that Raoul had taken her on as a squire, which Dom also knew.

The mystery wasn't that he knew these things about her. It was the suite of rooms, which, coming from his own sister, could have only been meant for her use.

Again she sighed. Now there was another thing that was too confusing to contemplate- she couldn't come up with any possible answers.

Along with Dom's inheritance, another thing Kel had never known about him was that he was rich. Sure, Neal's family was rich, but they were Queenscove, and Queenscove was an old family; old, wealthy and well known for service to the crown over the generations. But Masbolle. It was becoming obvious to her that Masbolle was also another old family, with roots all the way back to when Tortall began. So, with that considered, it did make sense that they were well-off, with successful lands, and generations of wealth to call on. And for all she knew, Masbolle was probably well known - she had never concerned herself too much with Tortall's history of the fiefs.

And Dom had never mentioned his family to her. Sure, in general references- but she found that she knew next to nothing about either of his sisters, or even his parents. And it did seem to her that they knew rather a lot about her.

Well now, she thought crossly to herself. This is getting me nowhere. I have no answers to any of my questions, and dwelling on them will hardly make the answers appear.

So she threw back the sheets a tad roughly, and hauled herself out of bed.

She made her way over to the basin of water that was in the second set of rooms, and splashed her face with water, before drying her face gently, and walking into the closet. On closer inspection, a few of the dresses seemed to be made by Lalasa. Lalasa, she thought crossly. She must have known, with her knowing my measurements so well. This thought stopped her still. That pesky girl! That must have been how the Masbolles had come to have her size. Kel rolled her eyes. Wasn't she allowed to know anything anymore?

She changed quickly out of her nightgown, and pulled on some of her own breeches and a shirt. Picking up her sword she started one of her morning routines.

Kel was in the middle of a pattern dance with her glaive when a knock sounded on her door.

Wiping sweat from her eyes, Kel walked over to the door and opened it, after setting her glaive down on the bed.

"Morning, my Lady," said the girl, who Kel thought must have been one of the Masbolle's servants, curtsied cheerfully, whilst balancing the tray she was carrying in front of her. Kel looked at in interest. It looked like breakfast. How odd. Had the little maid gotten the wrong room?

"I've been sent up with your breakfast, Lady Keladry, the cooks hope you find it to your liking, and ask if you would tell them what you wish to be served tomorrow," the girl continued, looking up at Kel with a respect that Kel wasn't at all sure she deserved.

"Kel," she absentmindedly corrected. "And thank you," she told the girl, stepping aside to let her in, as she obviously intended to put her load down.

The girl set the tray in the small living room, upon the table, curtsying again after she had done so. "Is there anything else Lady Kel requires?"

Kel was tempted to laugh at the absurdity of the girl's behaviour. This had to be the first time anyone had treated her so much like a lady in her life. Actually, more than that. The girl was treating her as a highly honoured guest or as Kel would have expected her to act towards her employer.

And Kel definitely wasn't either.

"No, there isn't anything I require," Kel said softly, highly confused, as it seemed she was most of the time these days.  
The maid curtsied and left.

She sat down and ate her meal, wondering. She had assumed that she would be eating in the mess with the rest of the soldiers that were in residence. Evidently not, although Kel could not think of why they were sending food up to her rooms, and wondered if Raoul was getting the same treatment. Raoul was the only other person that had come to have his own room (apart from Dom of course - he slept in his own rooms, Kel assumed) while the rest of the Own that had come were sleeping in the barracks. This was because he was a Lord, and Knight Commander of the Own. Kel had only gotten her own rooms because she was a girl.

Finishing up her breakfast, Kel changed into a shirt and a pair of the breeches she had found in the closet when she had arrived, (they were pale blue, and unadorned) and left her rooms to explore the castle, deciding to find out where the rest of her party had gotten to.


	5. The Unexplainable

** While At Masbolle - Chapter 6**

**The Unexplainable**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**Everyone knows the drill. Not mine.

It turned out that she found Raoul and the King's Own rather easily-all she had to do was go down the staircase at the end of the hallway and follow the major source of noise (although she found that the soldier's mess was almost beaten by the kitchens in terms of racket).  
Pushing open the doors, Kel made her way over to the jovially bellowing Wolset, who was currently thumping Raoul on the back. The scene took Kel quite aback, as these men were not known for their happiness in the hours before lunch - she assumed that they had been forced to wake up this early on the most part, but it did not explain some of the men's very cheery moods.

As she came closer to the table, almost within a distance that she could make out what the conversation was about, Wolset noticed her appearance and stopped talking, instead shouting even louder for her to join them. Having already eaten her breakfast, Kel slid onto the bench between Raoul and Wolset.

"Good of you to join us Kel, we have just heard of you getting your meals sent to your rooms - Raoul is rather upset!" The soldier was obviously more than a bit amused at the strength of Raoul's sulking over this matter. Well, she thought, that explains Wolset's mood a lot better, although she could tell that more than a few of the others were envious of this fact.

So. That answered one of her questions - she was the only one to get food sent to her rooms this morning. Instead of finding this fact informative, she found that it only led to more questions that she couldn't answer, confusing her even more.

------

At midday (shortly before the lunch bell was to toll) as she was working on moving a recently fallen tree from across one of the fief's roads with a squad of the Third, Kel received another summons from the fief's Lady. She hurried back to the castle (to the complaints of her still labouring companions) and to her rooms to change from her sweat soaked clothes, pulling on a sleeveless red dress quickly, (again wondering at why she felt that this was the right thing to do - she didn't think the Lady or her daughters would look respectfully upon her if she turned up it her now dreadfully dirty clothes) before allowing the servant to lead her to Dom's mother. Kel could not help but think that since she had left Corus to Masbolle, her mind had been full of rather too many unsolvable mysteries, and now it sprung to her mind that so far, instead of being left to follow Raoul's orders for the repair work of Masbolle, Kel had been treated rather more like the Lady's guest. Seeing as she had only just met Dom's mother, Kel could hardly see why this would be the case at all. But it did seem that it was, oddly enough.

Sighing, she resigned herself yet again to being confused, and scurried quickly after the little red headed maid who was skipping along in front of her, tugging on some slippers she had found as she went.

------

As Kel entered the room, the Lady turned her head around to smile at her from her place on the lavender coloured couch, its back facing the doorway. It was a cosy room, spacious but welcoming, with a fire crackling steadily in the large hearth. As Kel had half expected, Dom's sisters were also in the room, each seated in one of the armchairs near the couch, and around the fireplace. The roof was low, and the walls were covered in tapestries depicting age old battles. A vase of bright purple flowers was placed in the centre of the long, low table in front of the fireplace, the fire light playing teasingly over the plains of the flowers petals. The fire that was burning steadily opposite her seemed to be the only source of light that the room had, apart from a small narrow window near the ceiling on the right hand wall.

"Keladry my dear, come sit over here," said Dom's mother, drawing Kel's attention back to her, as she patted a spot on the couch next to her. Fumbling a rather clumsy curtsy, Kel sat down where it had been indicated that she should.

"My thanks, Lady," Kel said politely, her thoughts keeping on being drawn to her contemplation of why she was _here_, and not with the Third. "Do you sew Keladry?" She enquired, and only then did Kel notice that the other women in the room were all embroidering items of clothing.

Kel, startled, replied rather more bluntly than she otherwise thought she would have. "I'm a Knight, mistress; embroidery is hardly a thing that they teach to warriors."

Kel was surprised to find the older woman chuckling. "Or course not, I apologise Keladry- for my thoughtlessness."

"Kel. Just Kel." She told her firmly, about worn out by this 'lady' business already. "Then you must call me Galri dear," she told Kel, grinning and handing her a dark blue shirt, a needle, and gestured to some bundles of threads. "I thought I'd save you from those ghastly menfolk for a while; steal you away for my own company. I think dearie, you'll like embroidery, very calming and soothing once you get the hang of it." Galri winked at Kel, and Kel was surprised that she felt herself warming to the woman, whether it was Kel's own lack of female companionship, her relation to Dom, or the kindly motherly way that the Lady had been treating her, Kel wasn't sure, but her stay at Masbolle was turning out to be very different than she had expected.

------

Not long after Kel had arrived at what she took to be the families lounge, Dom's two sisters left, supposedly having to attend lessons on language and history. When Kel asked about this, Galri replied jovially to her that any child of hers that was present under her roof would continue learning - a fact that Kel found she agreed with full heartedly.  
After an hour or so talking with Galri, her grief over her husband's ill health was evident. Kel wasn't entirely sure of how to react to this, as she had never thought of herself as being good at comforting those losing or having lost a loved one, but the few words she said to the older woman did seem to help, of which Kel was glad.  
Three days passed in much the same way, her comrades complaining loudly and over dramatically at Galri's ever-growing fondness for Kel which often led to her getting let off the farming work, long conversations about various things with Dom's mother, weapons practise in the early mornings with Masbolle's guards, (whom she found out were much earlier risers than those of the Own) and the continued absence of Dom.

According to Galri, her son's absence was due to him sorting out many of Masbolle's accounts, some of which had been left alone during the Lord's sickness, and Dom now had to spend long hours being taught how to run the fief properly. (Much of which he had not been previously taught, as he had not been expecting to rule the lands.)

Apart from this fact, Kel enjoyed her stay at Masbolle. She was finding embroidery rather easy to pick up, although it may just have been the expertise of the person she was being taught by, and as promised found it rather relaxing - another fact that until recently she would have snorted at. Loudly. Very loudly in fact, and in a most un-lady like way. She had also taken it upon herself in the early hours of the morning to review and correct Masbolle's guards, even teaching them a new pattern dance to improve their abilities. (Although for a fief in the middle of Tortall, she had to say they were rather more skilled than she would have thought.)

Kel moved her toes in a circular motion, creating swirls on the bath's surface. She smiled, resting her head on the back of the bath's edge, and staring up at the ceiling. Dom's youngest sister, Waverlye, was definitely the more cheerful and less stiff of his two sisters, and Kel found herself contriving to spend more time with Clarice (who, Kel assumed, must be a good 10 years older than herself, and even older than her younger sister) as it pained her to see the woman so withdrawn, and she suspected, lonely with no women near her own age to talk to, to spout all her problems out to. On that front Kel was making progress, and yesterday had even managed to get a smile out of the older woman, but Kel was still anguished over Dom still not having appeared.

Not, if she was being reasonable, that she really had any right to think that way at all. He was only her friend after all, and before his father passed on, Dom had to be able to handle the lands properly. It was important. Her wanting to see him was selfish - although when her thoughts looped around to why she wanted to see him, she always almost managed to convince herself that the only reason that she wanted to see him was to question him about all the peculiar things that had happened to her at Masbolle that she thought he may have had a hand in.

She sighed. Well, then it seemed the only thing for her to do was wait for him to come to her.


	6. The Man

** While At Masbolle - Chapter 7  
**

**The Man**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**Everyone knows the drill. Not mine.

_A BIG thanks to oirishgoddess for her help on this story._

Dom stared up at the peaks of Masbolle's castle that rose up, looming over the large approaching gates. Unlike his previous visits home, he wasn't sure what to feel. It was only a few weeks ago, anticipating the trip to Masbolle with the Own for repair work, that he had heard the news. Even now, Dom could hardly believe that his hale, hearty father was sick. Fatally sick.

Unlike the happiness he had felt at his previous homecomings, Dom only felt uncertainty at coming home to a place he remembered so fondly, doubting that the place would ever be the same now that it had been cast from his father's ruling hand. He wasn't sure he _wanted_ to replace those memories, to overwrite them in his mind.

Dom felt his gaze drift over to meet that of his knight companion. Her warm smiling eyes reassured him. He knew he would have to let go of his father-and his mother too, at some point. This was just slightly sooner than he had expected. And he would just make his own happy memories at Masbolle, to ease the pain the memories of his childhood and father at Masbolle was causing him. He smiled back at her. Of course, she knew none of the thoughts plaguing his mind: he had told her neither of his father's illness, nor of his feelings for her. Which, he told himself, was really for the best - he couldn't handle the rejection, and he wouldn't want to give her the guilt, or lose her friendship. It was better all round.

Dom sighed and looked up again at the monstrous building that was Castle Masbolle. He pulled his horse to a halt; waiting as the on-duty guardsmen opened the gates.

------

He knocked gently upon the oak door. A soft murmur from inside encouraged him to open the door.

He had seen his mother barely half an hour before, and he had been horrified that she was now almost completely grey, as opposed to the last time he had seen her, when she had only had a splattering of grey through her long mane of raven black hair (the envy of the court for many a year). Although if he was being completely honest, he would admit that he had not been home for a long time - it had not been peace time long, and before that he had been following Kel across Scanra, and fighting in the war. This fact ashamed him slightly, but there wasn't really anything he could have done about it.

It had also worried him at how happy she was to see him, how eager she was for him to go to his father, to sort out Masbolle's affairs (which had fallen into somewhat of disarray, his mother having never been told or taught the dynamics in running a fief, although she had tried). He noticed how fretful she had become in the days of her finding out about her husband's sickness-how sad she had become, and how much she had come to depend on his sisters.

Another thing he had noticed when he had met his family in the courtyard upon his arrival, was that Clarice seemed to be desperately unhappy. Although this was not unusual for his sister, Dom found it worrying that his sister was in such a state, and that her mood was obviously affecting Masbolle's once joyous servants, most of whom looked wary of her.  
Dom turned the door knob and pushed the door gently open. Stepping into the room he saw his father lying under the many blankets of the king sized bed. Over the course of his illness, he must have allowed his hair to grow freely, so that his once closely cropped hair now brushed his shoulders.

"My boy! How good it is to see you at last! Come over here and give your old man a hug," he said more jovially than Dom would have expected, although less loudly than he once would have, as he held out his arms wide to his only remaining son.

Dom complied, pleased to see that his father still retained a small amount of his strength, and looked into the light blue eyes that were less clouded by grief than Dom would have expected - it seemed that his father was accepting his own death much more gracefully than his son was able to.

Lord Raskef of Masbolle gave his son a crooked smile. "This blasted illness has me confined to my bed most days, although some evenings I can manage to make my way over to my old desk. Near gives Galri herself a heart attack, tells me I should be conserving my strength." The old man chuckled, obviously amused at his wife's worrying.

Dom fumbled for something to say. He had thought up all sorts of things earlier, but the shock of actually seeing his father sick, making the rumour real for him, had washed them straight out of his mind.

"I hear we won the war! Glorious that must have been - you must tell me all about it my boy, every detail. Especially about your escapade in Scanra - thrilling, I just wish I'd been there myself," Dom's father continued on, blissfully unaware of his son's unrest.

For the first time upon entering the castle, he truly smiled, and proceeded to recount the war, starting from when the Third Company had been sent up north.

------

Several hours later Dom had finished his tale, and they sat (Or in Raskef's case, lay.) and ate the meal one of the maids had brought up for them - chicken and potatoes.

"So, this Keladry, she sounds quite a catch," Dom's father mumbled through a hearty bite of chicken. (Another thing Dom was glad to see - his father had not seemed to have lost his large appetite.)

Dom almost spat out his own mouthful in shock, and looked up into the knowing expression in the lord's eyes. Dom swallowed carefully. "How did you know?" He asked slowly.

This produced a loud laugh from Raskef, which probably wasn't wise, as it ended in him coughing, and trying to catch his breath. When he had recovered, he replied to Dom's question.

"Come on my boy, don't be daft! They way you talk about her, one would have to be an imbecile not to realise that you have fallen in love with her."

Dom sighed, rubbing his forehead. "It's that obvious? I'm probably the laughing stock of the court by now if that's true," he said, wincing.

For that comment he received a surprisingly hard whack around the head from his father. "Nonsense, insult a Masbolle so greatly? They wouldn't over something of the sort. And loving, from what I hear, an amazing woman, is nothing to be ashamed of my son. But, the question is lad, have you told the girl?"

"No!" Dom replied, surprised. "Of course not! I wouldn't squander our friendship for something as silly as my feelings," he said determinedly.

Raskef looked across at his son in something akin to disgust.

------

Dom sighed as he left his father's rooms. Never before had someone made him feel so silly. Of course he had to tell Kel how he felt-what if she felt the same? It was a slight chance that Dom had to grasp at, he realised (with the help of his father) or he would spend the rest of his life wondering what if. This wasn't something Dom wanted to do.

As soon as he had dealt with all the paperwork that needed to be seen to, with his father's instruction, he would go find her (he did hope that she was enjoying her stay at Masbolle, even if she was here to work on repairs with the King's Own) and he would tell her how he felt. Of course, he realised, they would have put her in the Yamani decorated rooms he had had made - he would have had trouble explaining _that_ any other way. Also, he realised, his family must all have figured out that he had feelings for the realm's first known Lady Knight in a century: what with the suite of Yamani rooms, and probably he had let other things slip before to them as well. He really couldn't see how he had been so stupid thinking that if he told no one, no one would know. Now it appeared that perhaps everyone knew.

Thinking back, Wolset must know. And Lerant. And Raoul. Mithros, how could he have been so much of a fool! He wondered if Kel knew. He certainly hoped not, that would be worst - and he wanted to be the one to tell her.

------

Dom let his head fall heavily down on top of the reams of parchment that lay scattered on the desktop of the Lord's large antique red cedar desk.

He had not known how much paperwork there would be! Hadn't even guessed! Now he knew what Kel had to deal with for New Hope, although this was on a much larger scale than New Hope. He was completely unprepared for running a fief. If his father was not there beside him to guide him through it all, Dom was sure that he would have drowned it the enormity of it all. This was the fourth day he had stayed at his home, and although he had made a large stab at it, the paperwork was not yet all done.

Dom looked out the window at the setting sun. It must be just after dinner. Dom looked back down at the paperwork, and then across at his father. All the response his father gave him was a small nod, before rolling over, obviously intending to get some sleep.

Dom smiled, gathered up the parchment carefully, placed them neatly on the edge of the desk, and let himself quietly out of the bedroom.

He would go see Kel now. She would either be at dinner, in her rooms or on the practice courts, he was sure. Leave the rest of the paperwork for tomorrow.

Now he would go and find his lady.


	7. The Little One

**While At Masbolle - Chapter 8  
**

**The Little One**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Only the Masbolles are mine, excepting Dom. _

Dom walked at a steady pace with long strides, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. 

This was it he guessed. This was time.

He took a deep breath as he came to a halt in front of a dark wooden door. It was only now, he thought darkly, that it occured to him to have second thoughts about telling Kel afterall. Dom drew another deep breath. On the long walk to her rooms, Dom had had plenty of time to think over how he was going to tell her exactly, but the walk had not been long enough for Dom to come up with and way that was near satisfactory.

He forced his arm upwards and hesitantly knocked on the door softly. He waited for a few seconds. No answer.

Gaining slightly more confidence, for no particular reason he could think of, he raised his hand a second time, this time knocking several times, slightly louder than they had been before.


	8. The Friend

**While At Masbolle - The Real Chapter 8  
**

**The Friend **

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Only the Masbolles are mine, excepting Dom._

_A big thanks to all my frequent reviewers, I love you all! And sorry for the wrong numbering in the chapters - I only just noticed! _

"Just a minute," he heard a muffled voice call, followed by some scrambling noises. The door opened to reveal Kel, her hair wet and plastered to the sides of her face. She smiled warmly at him.

"Dom! How are you? How's your father?" She asked him.

Dom was slightly taken aback, he hadn't expected her to have known that his father was ill, but he guessed he should have known, of course someone would have told her by now.

"Uh- relatively good i suppose, considering," he said, slightly mumbling the words. Kel gave him a slightly concerned comforting look, and gestured for him to come inside.

Dom shook his head. "No thanks. Uh, um... Well Kel, you see," Dom was cut off by a third voice.

"Evening you two," the voice drawled casually, drawing Dom and Kel's attention towards it. There they saw Neal striding towards them from the end of the hallway, his hair wind blown from riding, and wearing leather riding gear. "Domitan dear, I can't say I'm thrilled with the welcoming i received, it is a sad day when one of the family is greeted by neither of the Lords, and only an aunt that attempts to strangle them upon them dismounting. Masbolle's standards are slipping," Neal finished jokingly, shaking his head for emphasis on his 'point'.

"Neal! When did you get here?" Kel exclaimed, throwing her arms around Neal's neck as he enveloped her in a hug. Dom's only response to his cousins sudden arrival was a rapid decrease in heart beat, and a half relieved sigh. At least he could post pone it a little while longer, try and come up with _something_ to say to her that didn't sound pathetic to his ears, and he thought, to hers as well.

------

Neal looked over Kel's shoulder at his cousin. Something was definitely up with him recently, although that could have something to do with the rapidly impending passing of his father. But Neal had his suspicions that it was more this time - he knew well enough of his cousin's feelings for the woman in his arms, indeed everyone that had seen either the two of them together, or Dom talking about Kel, or even _around_ people talking about Kel, could tell. Neal felt like shaking his head at Kel's obliviousness, as she was usually so observant.

Neal could deduce for himself what his cousin had been doing before he had entered the hallway - Dom's nervous stance, and Kel's confused, and slightly worried, expression said it all. Wait until Yuki hears about this, Neal thought grimly, thinking of his wife who was on the ground floor talking to his aunt currently. She'd kill him when she found out that he had interrupted Dom finally getting the guts to tell Kel that he loved her.

Neal was just able to stop himself grimacing at the thought as he released Kel, and smiled instead.

"Just rode in now Kel, Yuki is downstairs talking with my aunt. Give me a second to go and change, and then why don't we go to the kitchens and grab something to eat?" Neal proposed, already on his way down the hall to where his rooms were.

-----

"Mmmm, this apple pie is delicious!" Kel said through a mouthful of the aforementioned pie. Dom laughed. "A Masbolle specialty, with it's abundance of glorious apple trees, we had to do something with them, so you'll find many recipes including apples came from Masbolle," Dom told her, also munching his way through a slice of apple pie.

Neal's hand twitched towards his fork that he had laid down, glancing towards his wife. Yuki would definitely not approve of him flicking pie at Dom. But... the thought was very tempting...

Yuki sat close to Neal, eating her pie much more slowly and politely than the other three, carefully chewing and swallowing her piece, observing the others as she did so. Kel seemed to be the only one that was completely absorbed in the process of eating her desert, with Dom absent mindedly eating his pie, and staring dolefully towards Kel, and her own husband seemed to be glancing between Dom, his desert, and her - evidently wanting to do something he knew she wouldn't like. It most probably consisted of the small amount of his leftover pie and his cousin. Yuki shook her head slightly in amusement at her friends.

Just as Yuki had almost finished her pie, and the conversation had moved on from pies to if the peace with Scanra would actually last, Masbolle's cook came over to the small wooden table. She was a short well rounded woman with light brown curly hair that was tied back by Masbolle blue kerchief. She offered them some of her freshly baked apple cake (Dom had been right when he had said that Masbolle used apples in many things, seeing as they had them in large supply.) with a warm smile that reached her light green eyes. Only Yuki's still present Yamani training stopped her from laughing at Kel's eagerness - the two men at the round table however burst out laughing, having neither of them recieved anything like Yamani training in their lives.


	9. The Chapter

**While At Masbolle - Chapter 9**

**The Chapter  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Not mine.  
_

_This chapter is dedicated to rowanHOODofTheROWANwood, who this world will miss dearly._**  
**

The rain fell down lightly on the dark grey cobblestones that Keladry of Mindelan walked across with Yukimi of Queenscove. They were slowly making their way through the rain to the mess hall, enjoying the soft drops of water falling upon them.

It was almost midday, and Yuki had been complaining about Neal's most recent piece of poetry, which had rhymed "Yukimi" with "Zucchini", a vegetable which she thought Neal should know she despised by now.

Kel leaned on the doors to Masbolle's mess hall, and was immediately enveloped in a raucous noise that could only signal the presence of soldiers. Kel grinned as Yuki winced at the racket, and led the Yamani over to grab a lunch tray from the servers.

"My ladies," said a woman of medium height, bowing her head as they approached the small buffet on one side of the mess dressed in the Masbolle colours and crest that marked her as one of the servants of the castle.

Kel and Yuki greeted and thanked her as she passed them their trays, and set to the task of searching the room for a place to sit. Yuki spotted Neal almost instantly, and despite her previous complaints about her new husband, walked over to sit on the bench next to him eagerly. As part of the family, Neal and Yuki should have been taking meals with the Masbolle's, and not in the soldier's mess. Kel didn't doubt that it had not been Yuki's decision to come and eat with the rowdy soldiers, and those doubts would have been diminished completely if she'd had them when Yuki had visibly winced at their noise.

Looking more closely at the table in which direction Yuki was now heading, Kel could see that Raoul, Lerant, and Wolset were also sitting there. And, much to her surprise, none other than Dom was sitting next to Neal. Kel's heart rate rapidly increased, and Kel rushed after Yuki at a pace that she would have found humorous had it not been her to do so, and if she had in fact noticed at all.

------

When Yuki had arrived at the table, the talk was of what work was to be done in the surrounding lands, and contemplation of when they should set off and set up camp in another part of the fief closer to where they had to work, but had changed completely by the time she had dragged Neal up to go for a ride with her to Wolset's idea of a tournament (he confessed that the field work was boring him, and suggested this as entertainment - an idea that the rest of the Own was keen to pursue). Presently however she was staring at the river, thinking of her new cousin and Kel.

Yuki turned her head to see Neal staring at her. She sighed.

"Did you see them in the mess today? They would make such a cute couple!" Yuki exclaimed. "And he definitely dotes on her." she added with a small nod.

Neal smiled at his wife. "I know my Yamani blossom, it's just a shame Kel doesn't notice. But not every girl can be as lucky as you, to have a man to dote on her that will proclaim his love without fear!" he finished, puffing out his chest dramatically.

Yuki cocked her head slightly, laughing softly at him, sweeping the tips of her fingers through the water to spray him in the face.

------

The rain had stopped one candle mark after Kel had left the mess hall, and she used the opportunity the stop in the drizzle gave, and with much nudging and prodding, managed to get all three of the Masbolle ladies out onto the practice courts.

"Now," she said to the ladies, chucking each of them one of the three spears she had managed to scavenge from the guard's armour room. "We don't have enough practice glaives, so these will have to make do. Hold them like so. Just a little higher, Waverlye."

And with that, Kel began to teach them a simple pattern dance meant for the glaive, wondering all the while how she had managed to convince the noble ladies to let her teach them, especially Clarice. But Kel had felt that she had to teach them something of her own, something to give them in return for their lessons in embroidery, something she hoped that they would love as she did.


	10. The Other Sister

**While At Masbolle - Chapter 10 **

**The Other Sister  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Only the Masbolles are mine, excepting Dom._

_This chapter is dedicated to Flyer without Wings, romance-addict44, stardust718, Princess-Of-Everything, __ and Cheeseycraziness, for their many reviews _)

Dusk approached, bringing a soft chill with it. Rubbing his hands together softly, trying to regain some of their warmth, Dom walked out of his rooms and to the end of the corridor, pausing momentarily by the window, staring out at its view of the practise courts.

Halfway through the process of taking another step, Dom backtracked, so he was again standing directly in front of the window. Smiling, slightly in disbelief, Dom half ran down the staircase, making his way over to the platform overlooking the practise courts.

When he had reached the platform (after what had seemed like an age) he stood at the edge, getting a better view of the courts than he had from the upstairs window.

Dom had never thought he would have seen the day when Clarice would have touched any sort of weapon without much distain, or a vivid grimace spread over her face. Grinning he leant on the railing, leaning his chin on the base of his palm. His girl was a miracle worker. Or rather, he absent-mindedly corrected himself, that who he wished was his girl.

Either way, Kel must have somehow known that Clarice would have liked it. She had always wanted to feel powerful when they were kids; she had not wanted anyone to belittle her, and had often behaved rashly when she was shown to be inferior to her siblings in any way. He guessed that she had just grown better at hiding her abhorrence for anyone having power over her, and hadn't changed as much from the little girl he remembered as he had thought.

Learning a weapon, he knew from experience, was a skill to be proud of, a skill that gave you a certain amount of confidence - knowing you could defend yourself should the occasion arise. It, he thought, would be a good thing for his sister to gather some of her old confidence back up.

All these thoughts passed through his head in a matter of seconds, before his mind went back to focusing on the Lady Knight. She was so patient with her students, so supportive of their actions, and ready to help in their improvement. She would be a wonderful mother.

Dom's elbow slipped, causing his head to bang against the rail, as he had been leaning on that arm. Rubbing his chin in annoyance Dom decided to discard that train of thought and return his attention to the scene below him, trailing Kel's movements, every so often glancing at the fumbling movements of his immediate family- trying to fool himself into thinking he was watching their progress, and not just daydreaming about Kel.

This process however was cut short by Wolset coming up behind him and thumping him on the shoulder.

"Right jewel, ain't she? Already making improvements to your fief," he commented, laughing at the sharp look Dom gave him. "No need to get your breeches in a twist, she'd do the same to any fief she came across, and _you're_ the one that likes her."

Dom didn't bother to lie to Wolset; even if it wasn't true Wolset wouldn't give the idea up.

"Anyway, me and Galrit want you in our little tournament organisations, it will get you away from your staring."

Giving him no choice in the matter, Wolset chucked his arm around Dom's shoulders, dragging him away, leaving Dom to grasp the last few glances of the makeshift glaives flying before he was pulled out of view.


	11. The Mess

**While At Masbolle - Chapter 11  
**

**The Mess  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight._

**_Disclaimer: _**_Do not happen to own any of this, apart from a few of the ideas and the wording :)_

Kel exhaled deeply as she sat down heavily on the wooden bench, rubbing her hands over her eyes.

For their first lesson Kel surmised, they hadn't done too badly at all; in fact, rather more enthusiastic and hard working than Kel had thought they would have been, a fact of which she was glad.

Glancing up at the soldiers sitting around her, she tried to pay attention to what they were conversing about - a feat that proved hard when her thoughts went directly back to Dom or his family. Thinking of his family however, Kel realised that she still hadn't met his father.

Although, she presumed, not many people had been to see him as he was ill, and she was no one special to the family - why should she be an exception? Kel rubbed at her temples trying to quench all the confusing thoughts that seemed to be haunting her mind, again looking up, this time at Wolset who was talking (as she had noticed, he usually was).

"Come on Rees, it'll be fun! Friendly competition," Wolset added, nudging his companion who was still scowling at him.

"We aren't here for _fun_ Wolset," Rees spat out. "We're here to help. To work. We shouldn't have anything to distract us," he finished stubbornly, storming out of the mess hall.

"How that man ever got into the _Third_ Company I will never know," Wolset sighed shaking his head. "No sense of fun or humour that one, for all his skill on the battlefield."

Wolset continued to rally his troops to go and ask Raoul for his little tournament (not that any of the rest of his 'troops' needed any rallying) and Kel tuned out, having heard this little speech at least five times by now, letting her thoughts drift back to Dom as she spooned mouthfuls of soup into her mouth slowly.

"Lady Kel," Wolset said, catching her attenion. "Do you think the ladies would like to get their feet dirty and take part in our little tournament? And you too of course," he asked.

Kel's eyebrows rose slightly in involantry surprise. He'd obviously seen her helping the ladies use the make shift glaives that she had found. She shook her head slightly.

"No Wolset. I doubt after a few days you'd be able to keep up with them," she replied cheerfully, to the amusement of the Own members listening.

Wolset grinned in response. "I'll take that as a yes. It'll be a week from now, so that gives your girls plenty of time. Well, hopefully in a week." With that said, the conversation veered off to teasing Danrik about the rider girl he was courting, and Kel returned her attention to her soup.


	12. The Confession

**While At Masbolle - Chapter 12 **

**The Confession  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Only the Masbolles are mine, excepting Dom. Do not own the song.It is Speechless by The Veronicas_

_This chapter is dedicated to **all** my reviewers, and all the readers of this story, your ideas and feedback are much appreciated. _

_------ _

_Feels like I have always known you  
_  
Dom thought back to the first time he had seen her. She had been practicing tilting with her fellow pages. She had been on probation then, and most of what he had known of her had come from letters from his cousin, which he trusted more than the Own's gossip. Her horse had somehow gotten a fright and reared up, leaving everyone certain she would land in the dust. But not his Kel, who he knew even then (even if it was only second hand information) to be fiercely determined - why else would she have entered knight training, when all were expecting, wanting her to fail? But she had pushed through - even then he had viewed her as a girl he could respect. Looking back at his life now, he couldn't imagine life not knowing her.

_And I swear I dreamt about you  
All those endless nights I was alone  
_  
Dom rolled over roughly in his bed. He thought of all the previous days, his nights riddled with dreams of her, his days plagued with the knowledge she wasn't his to hold, his to comfort. His to cherish.  
_  
It's like I've spent forever searching  
Now I know that it was worth it  
With you it feels like I am finally home  
_  
Being around her felt right, and those rare moments he could catch her up in a hug, he could imagine never letting her go. He was hers he had discovered, whether this pleased her or not. For forever and always.

_Falling head over heels  
Thought I knew how it feels  
_  
Dom had courted ladies before, flirted with them, kissed them. He had thought he was no stranger to love, and would have called himself an expert, able to handle the ladies emotions with a smile, but Kel had proved him wrong.

_But with you it's like the first day of my life  
_  
With Kel, he could imagine marriage, imagine children, imagine a life full of happiness, where he had never been able to imagine any of these with any other lady, and had quaked at the mere mention or suggestion of any long term commitment to those he now saw as completely meaningless flings.

_Cuz you leave me speechless  
When you talk to me  
_  
He had always been a man of words, a court flirt, a person who could charm his way out of any situation and never be at a loss for words But around Kel, more often than not these days, he could not figure out what he should say. She left him tongue tied. Speechless._  
_  
_You leave me breathless  
The way you look at me  
_  
One look from her and he felt like he was the person being charmed, and she the flirt, able to catch a man's attention with a glance._  
_  
_You manage to disarm me  
My soul is shining through  
Can't help but surrender  
My everything to you  
_  
Dom threw the sheets from the bed onto the floor roughly, jumping up with an energy that surprised him. Robotically he managed to find a shirt in the dark and throw it over his head. Pushing his hair back out of his eyes, he went to the door and jerked it open, heading out into the corridor._  
_  
_I thought I could resist you  
I thought that I was strong  
_  
He had thought that he could just not tell her, and be secure in the knowledge that they were friends. She deserved to know. He didn't want to put their friendship at risk, but how could he live with not telling? How could he live with seeing her most days, and knowing he had not even told her, not put himself out on the slightest chance she might feel the same, that he had not done all he could. He now knew that he was not that strong._  
_  
_Somehow you were different from what I've known  
I didn't see you coming  
You took me by surprise and  
You stole my heart before I could say no  
_  
He had first known he could never be satisfied with another woman when she had come back to the Own after her ordeal. He had seen the fine woman she had become, the woman Neal had always known she would become. Of course through her squire years he had always had a soft spot for the young squire that became as much a part of the Own as he was, but it wasn't until after her ordeal, and their time in Scanra that he had really known her, really loved her._  
_  
_Falling head over heels  
Thought I knew how it feels  
But with you it's like the first day of my life  
_  
He had never known as much worry for someone as he had felt for Kel when she had gone through Scanra. The threat of her being killed doubled, and Dom's fear for her life had persisted to be in his mind quite unlike any other fear he had felt before. Not that he had let anyone know it - he could only imagine Neal's voice dripping in sarcasm if he heard._  
_  
_You leave me speechless  
When you talk to me  
You leave me breathless  
The way you look at me  
You manage to disarm me  
My soul is shining through  
I can't help but surrender  
Oh no  
My everything to you  
_  
Dom raised his hand and once again knocked on her door.

Once again she opened it, this time dressed in a modest night gown, but that may have reminded Dom as to what the hour at which he was coming to her rooms at and make him blush had he not been completely absorbed in looking into her face as she peered up at him with an adorable expression filled with confusion, what he hoped was happiness, and slight worry.

"Dom? Is something wrong?"

_You leave me speechless  
(the way you smile, the way you touch my face)  
_  
She gave him a small smile and all he could do was shake his head slightly. Lost for words. Again.  
_  
You leave me breathless  
(it's something that you do I can't explain)  
_  
Dom's heart raced and his breath stuck in his throat as he looked at her.

_I run a million miles just to hear you say my name  
Baby  
_  
"Dom?"

_You leave me speechless  
You leave me breathless  
The way you look at me  
_  
"I. I," Dom sighed slightly in exasperation at himself. "I just wanted to tell you how you make me feel when you look at me."

He saw her blush, and almost concealed confusement played across her face.  
_  
You manage to disarm me  
My soul is shining through  
I can't help but surrender  
My everything to you  
_  
Dom leaned towards her, kissing her cheek softly. "I think that I most probably am indefinitely in love with you."


	13. The Reaction

**While At Masbolle - Chapter 13  
**

**The Reaction  
**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight._

**_Disclaimer: _**_Do not happen to own any of this, apart from a few of the ideas and the wording :)_

_This chapter is dedicated to purple smurfs r real__ - I'm sorry that i didn't get the chapter up sooner like I'd said. _

_Don't say this means nothing at all  
Don't say this means nothing at all  
Tell me it's worth falling head over heels for  
Not that it's nothing at all_

_Nothing At All, Mr. Kane_

Dom's heart felt like it would burst out of his chest and start doing somersaults at any moment. The suspense of it. He hoped she talked to him after all this - he'd woke her up to tell her too.

He fidgeted nervously. Yeah, that probably wasn't the wisest idea when he wanted to stay on her good side. In hindsight he could have kicked himself (although he knew he wouldn't have gathered up enough courage for quite some time if he hadn't told her now).

Dom waited.

--

Kel thought back to earlier that evening, when she had slid into bed.

Her thoughts had been so riddled thoughts of Dom it had taken her over an hour before she finally fell asleep. To dreams of Dom of course (it had been of him sword fighting that night, unusually). When she had awoken to knocks on her door - a distinctive knock she immediately recognized as Dom's, which of course made her think that she hadn't been woken up, but had in fact just slipped into another dream.

She still wasn't sure that this hadn't been the case.

Telling her he loved her certainly wasn't something Dom did every day - apart from in her dreams - so it was a rather plausible theory. But surely the intense tingling let behind on her cheek from where he had kissed her just a second before was real - surely a dream couldn't be so convincing?

Either way, she concluded, dream or no dream, Dom was now standing back upright, his lips retreating further from her cheek. Impulsively Kel rocked forward on her toes slightly, pressing her body up against his, and catching his lips with her own.

Had Dom's arms not secured themselves around her waist, holding her closer yet, she would have surely sent both of them onto the hard floor of the hallway.

As it was they were both saved from that unpleasant occurrence, and instead both of them felt rather more joyous at finding themselves in each other's arms.

Kel drew back after a minute or so and looked up slightly into Dom's eyes which she could she brimming with happiness. She was sure it wasn't a dream. So that meant he really did like her. Kel couldn't quite believe it.

"So, can I take that as an 'I love you too Dom'?" Dom questioned, his voice slightly more husky than usual.

"More than anyone else ever could," Kel replied softly, figuring that if it was a joke on her (which she thought less likely than it being a dream - Dom of all people would never do such a thing) or a dream, she would take the opportunity to be truthful.

--

Dom could hardly believe his luck. She felt the same way? He had hardly even bothered to contemplate that idea seriously.

Dom lowered his head the scant inch between their heights and kissed her again, withdrawing one of his arms from around her waist and cupping her cheek lightly in his hand.

--

Morning arrived serenely with bangs and claps of thunder.

Kel cautiously opened one eye to look out the window - as the sounds had indicated to her, the rain was battering at the window relentlessly and outside a storm was in full gale.

Kel exhaled noisily, rolling over in her bed, the sheets clinging to her as she reluctantly shuffled out of her warm bed and into the awaiting cold that the storm had brought with it. Being just past dawn however, warmth was rarely present on a fine day.

Once she had pulled herself out of the confines of her bed, unusually, Kel felt a lot better. Humming she went to the basin in the next room, and splashed her face with water (an icy cold process which she didn't mind as much as she usually did, instead finding she embraced the familiar routine).

Jovially flinging open the doors of her wardrobe, Kel picked out dark green breeches and a white shirt to wear for the day, deciding that she would pay an early morning trip to the mess hall, for once foregoing her morning weapons practice (which she doubted she could do outside, judging from the copious amounts of rain, and the lightning that she was sure would soon come).


	14. The Father

** While At Masbolle - Chapter 14  
**

**The Father**

_**Summary: **An account of Keladry of Mindelan's stay at Masbolle. Future KD, set after Lady Knight. _

**_Disclaimer: _**Everyone knows the drill. Not mine.

_A thanks to all my reviewers, I'm sorry that this chapter took so long.  
_

The mess hall was barely occupied at all when Kel walked through its doors. Smiling brightly at the few who had dragged themselves out of bed at that time, Kel walked over to grab her breakfast tray of porridge and toast.

Sliding onto the bench between Wolset and Lerant, Kel started her breakfast in a serene silence. Glancing at Wolset as she munched slowly on her toast, she decided that he was definitely the least awake of everyone in the mess hall, and having heard some of his numerous arguments as to why the King's Own should get more days off so they could get a proper amount of sleep, she was surprised to see him up unnecessarily this early. Lerant on the other hand was fully awake, and persistently trying to get Wolset to talk. Wolset's only response was a few half-hearted grunts and the careless spooning of porridge into his mouth. Why would Wolset be up? Most likely reason seemed to be Lerant turning his friend out of bed and dragging him along to breakfast.

Rees sat opposite her, a man who was roughly six foot tall, sturdily built and a fiery red head. Someone you wouldn't want to be against in a bar fight, and he lacked a sense of humour in the eyes of most of the Third's men. He hadn't been in the King's Own long, but had been in the army for many years before deciding to join Lord Raoul, and the distance between him and the other men, while not unfriendly, was noticeable. Kel had seen books of poetry sticking slightly out of his saddlebags on the trip to Masbolle - there was evidently more to the man than brawn.

Finishing her meal Kel switched her thoughts to contemplating the night before, and grinned as she made her way out of the mess hall and back to her rooms. Who would have guessed that Dom of all people liked her? Humming vacantly, Kel heard a cough coming from within one of the rooms she passed. She paused in her tracks. The coughing continued, and she frowned, cautiously opening the door and peering inside. It was a grand bedroom with several off leading doors, and a mighty bed resting against one wall.

In the bed lay a man, coughing fitfully. Kel rushed to his side, helping him sit up, and pouring him a glass of water from the pitcher that lay on the small table beside the bed when his coughs subsided, helping him sip the liquid.

When it was clear that the man was okay, Kel took a better look at him. He was, she would guess, in his late fifties, with long black hair flecked with white. When he turned slightly to look at her, she was frozen in her kneeling position beside his bed by his light blue eyes. Eyes that didn't show the slightest suggestion of age, excepting the wisdom that comes with maturity.

That face, those features, that gaze... Kel's eyes widened, and she could have kicked herself.

She'd just wandered into the room of the Lord of Masbolle. This was Dom's father!

He seemed to have regained some of his strength for the time being, and smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you Miss Keladry - it is Miss Keladry, is it not?" Dom's father asked her, his voice not bearing much trace of his recent coughing fit.  
All Kel seemed to be able to do was nod.

"Raskef," he said simply, offering his hand to her.

She took it carefully, blushing slightly as she realised how rude she was to just rush into a room without knocking.

"Ah, my son was right, beautiful as the sunrise and not nearly so obnoxious," Raskef observed, half to himself, nodding approval.

Lord Raskef insisted that she stay keep him company until it was nearly midday. For one so ill, the lord was surprisingly energetic, although his illness did occasionally show, and Kel found herself liking the old lord just as much as she had the rest of Dom's family.

Kel closed the door to the lord's rooms softly and turned and continued up the hallway to 'her' rooms. Kel stopped in shock at her doorway as she saw Dom with his back to the door, arranging flowers on a small table.

"Dom?" she asked, bewildered.

At the sound of her voice, he spun around, looking like a sheepish child.

"Good Day Kel," he said cheerfully, and walked past her and out the door. Kel recovered from her shock just in time to catch his arm as he was leaving, and kissed him passionately.

This way she would find out for definite if she had just dreamt up the happenings of last night, or they had truly been real. If they hadn't?

She supposed she could pass it all off as a joke.

Dom kissed her back, all the while thinking how glad he was that he'd worked up the guts to tell her.


End file.
